BodyWorlds

We have been studying the human body so I thought it might be fun to take the kids to see the Bodyworlds exhibit. (My kids don't get grossed out by this kind of stuff.) My grandparents watched the two little ones while the older kids and I headed down to LA.
We started the day by watching the IMAX film, "The Human Body".

Then we worked our way into the exhibit....WOW! I really wished I could of taken pictures but they wouldn't allow any cameras. :(

The kids were just amazed with their mouth's hanging wide open the whole time! Austin, said "Do you know why the human body is the most amazing machine mom?" I said why??? "Because God made it!" He's right after seeing how the body works I don't know how anyone can argue there isn't a God.
The kids kept saying "cool" and were full of questions but felt as if they had to whisper (kind of like a funeral) It was weird.
It's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that everything you see is real human bodies and parts.





One part of the exhibit that I hope will stick in the kids heads is how bad smoking is when you see the black lungs, or how bad over consumption on alcohol is when you see sclerosis of the liver. Also you get to see what a poor diet does to the intestines. Then we saw a obese man (a slice of him) and after seeing that you will know why eating less and exercise is so important. Belly fat compresses the organs, causing less blood to reach them. They are essentially suffocating! The heel of the foot was damaged from holding all that weight as well.


A smokers lungs...black



We got to take a look at the skeletal system,the muscular system, the circulatory system,the nervous system, immune system, digestive system and the respiratory system. We discussed what we had been learning and the kids were able to see it (the real thing) Amazing!
Then we walked through the baby exhibit. Still, the most remarkable, yet disconcerting part of Body Worlds. This section was very disturbing and depressing because, well, we were walking through a room filled with dead babies.It was very tragic but, very informative.
The babies that were located against the walls in glass cases ranged in age from 12 weeks through 34 weeks. It was astounding, especially seeing a fetus so close up that you could see its features – some even had eyelashes, and finger and toe nails. It was weird to me to see a baby at 27wks.(Which I am) I was able to show the kids how big the baby is in mommy's tummy. In the middle of the room were eight glass cylinders with embryos inside at different stages of development spanning conception to eight weeks. The last couple of weeks were the most amazing because you could see a surge of development and notice the formation of their tiny fingers and toes. At only nine weeks you could make out the face.
The last body we saw before we left was a man holding his own skin. Creepy!




As we walked out the kids were getting hungry. I had lost my appetite but they wanted to eat. So to make it easy and to try and leave before traffic we headed over to the McDonalds that was in the same building. I started to order for the kids.... Hamburger or Nuggets??? I asked. They just looked at me with a scared look on their face.... Neither Mom, Can we just get apple slices? I think after showing them the clogged arteries they won't be eating junk food anytime soon.